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Tag Archives | OWS

While nearly half of Californians do not personally identify with the Occupy movement, 58% agree with the underlying reasons for the protests, says the highly respected Field Poll in announcing survey results last week. If this were an election, the opposition would be stomped, as 58% is a landslide. Clearly, the Occupy protests are resonating with the general public, at least in California. While many of them may not see themselves camping out in a park, they indeed give Occupy moral support. This is unusual for a protest in the US. Usually, an energized minority is making noise while the general public is either apathetic or opposed to it. But this time is different. The poll numbers also suggest that Occupy, if it wants to grow, needs to perform greater outreach to those who support the protest movement but don’t yet identify with it.

Occupy supporters by large margins blame Wall Street and the Bush Administration for the financial crisis, while non-supporters blame the federal government and the Obama Administration. A startling 40% of all those polled thought that it makes no difference which party wins Congress in the 2012 elections. The remaining 60% were unsurprisingly highly partisan in their choice of parties. Also unsurprising was that 73% of Democrats identified with Occupy while only 23% of Republicans did. For those wondering why Occupy even has that level of support among Republicans, it’s important to note that the Tea Party, which was founded in protest against the bailouts of the big banks by the federal government, has endorsed OWS. Anger against Wall Street isn’t just coming from the left, more than a few right-tilting libertarians have similar sentiments.

75% of African-Americans and 50% of Latinos and Asians identify a lot or some with Occupy, compared to 42% of the state’s white non-Hispanic voters. Identification with Occupy drops sharply for those with incomes above $100,000. Oddly, the 50-64 age group voices the strongest identification while 18-29 has the least. Los Angeles County is a bastion of support while the Central Valley has the least. But even with all that, those identifying with Occupy a lot or some generally have 40-50% support across age, gender, and ethnic categories.

Support is much stronger for those agreeing with the reasons for Occupy. The Field Poll says “Majorities of voters in virtually every gender, age, race/ethnicity, household income and region of the state agree with the underlying reason for the protests.” 56% of those making above $100,000 agree with the reasons and 69% of those 18-29 do.

Support is much stronger for those agreeing with the reasons for Occupy. The Field Poll says “Majorities of voters in virtually every gender, age, race/ethnicity, household income and region of the state agree with the underlying reason for the protests.” 56% of those making above $100,000 agree with the reasons and 69% of those 18-29 do.

If OWS aspires to embody the 99 percent then it is going to have to do the dirty work of reaching out to that other 98.9 per cent who have not yet participated…The tribal aspects of OWS, the concentration on camp kitchens, libraries, etc. are quaint but wholly irrelevant. They are ingrown and exclusionary…. The parks don’t matter. Power matters.

OWS has had huge success and clearly resonates with many. To become a transformational force, it needs to grow beyond its roots into the populace at large.

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The United Nations envoy for freedom of expression is drafting an official communication to the U.S. government demanding to know why federal officials are not protecting the rights of Occupy demonstrators whose protests are being disbanded — sometimes violently — by local authorities.

Here’s an perfect example of that violence and deliberate ignoring of civil rights, all apparently ok’ed with a wink and a nod from the Obama Administration.

Open letter from Patrick Meighan, an OccupyLA detainee and a Green Party member:

Dear LA Times,

Speaking as a person who was arrested Wednesday morning at City Hall for the crime of peacefully, respectfully protesting the wholesale fraud perpetrated by our nation’s financial sector, I just want to
say:

I’m not mad that an LAPD officer slammed me face-first into the pavement.

I’m not mad that my personal property was forcibly stolen, destroyed and disposed of by the LAPD.

I’m not mad that my arms were painfully zipcuffed behind my back for 7 consecutive hours.

I’m not mad that the LAPD zipcuffs cut off circulation at my wrists, causing evident nerve damage to my right hand.

I’m not mad that the LAPD spent the entire day refusing to accept all bail postings for nonviolent Occupy LA protesters like myself, while at the same time dutifully bonding and releasing countless violent arrestees back onto L.A.’s streets.

I’m not mad that the LAPD denied me access to a lawyer for the entire duration of my jail stay.

What I’m mad about is that none of the above has been done to even one of the Wall Street criminals who committed the most egregious act of larceny in American history, trashing the lives and futures of millions of Angelenos and hundreds of millions of American citizens.

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What we have here of course is a sadistic thug with a badge. If there’s still a functioning justice system in this country, he should lose his badge, then go to prison. Or get a job working for the government of Syria. I’m sure they’d appreciate a chap who likes to torture the defenseless. One of the protesters was hospitalized with burns from the spray. That’s makes it torture.

For those who may not know, the standard procedure here is the cops ask the people to get up. If they refuse, they get picked up. I’ve been at some mighty tense confrontations with LAPD and even they wouldn’t have done what this alleged human of a cop did.

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Talking with David Buccola, who was there all day yesterday for the massive Shutdown Wall Street protests. Police craziness. Shutting down Zuccotti one day then kettling people in the next. But then tens of thousands came. This was far too many for them to control.

The “99%” and other slogans projected on the Verizon Building as marchers crossed the Brooklyn Bridge was inspirational, made even more so by it coming from an apartment in the projects. When the mom in the apartment saw what was being projected, she refused to take the agreed upon payment, saying this was for the people!

At one point 30,000 were watching live streaming simultaneously from theother99 on Ustream who had over 700,000 unique views. This shows the power of social media. He said cops backed off from him when they saw the live streaming.

Most important, this movement is everywhere now. Support it in your community or start one of your own.

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Verizon Building in Lower Manhattan. The beam rolled through a series of words: “99% / mic check! / Look around / you are a part / of a global uprising / we are a cry / from the heart / of the world / we are unstoppable / another world is possible / happy birthday / #occupy movement / occupy wall,” then a long list of cities, states and countries and then “occupy earth / we are winning / it is the beginning of the beginning / do not be afraid / Love.”